Shootings, bomb attacks kill 5 across Iraq

BAGHDAD 
Shootings and blasts killed five people in Iraq on Tuesday, including two local politicians in a town north of Baghdad who died when a bomb attached to their car exploded, officials said.

The head of Tuz Khormato's local council and a council member were killed and a third official, a mayor, was wounded, a police official said. Tuz Khormato is located about 210 kilometers (130 miles) north Baghdad.

In Bagdad, another bomb attached to a minibus in the northern Kazimiyah neighborhood killed one commuter and wounded five, another police officer said. Later that day, gunmen with pistols fitted with silencers killed a police officer in a drive-by shooting in the east of the capital, he said.

Another policeman was killed and five people were wounded when their checkpoint came under fire from gunmen in two speeding cars in a second drive-by shooting in western Baghdad.

Three medical officials confirmed the casualty figures. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to release information.

Insurgents are still able to hunt down local officials and launch lethal attacks nationwide despite the large decrease in violence in recent years.